zafia advice needed

Andyvec

Hello all,

Not been on here for a while but after doing my first set of chains and top end build on my '02 vectra b sri last year after it snapped i've now got an '03 zafira sat on my drive that's been in the family a few years which broke down and has been diagnosed with 'a timing issue'. I don't know if its going to have jumped or snapped but i'm about to start taking it apart to see whats happened and i was wondering if there are likely to be any differences with the engine compared to my vectra that i should be aware of.

I've already noticed the the cam cover on the zafira is plastic unlike my vec's metal one but i'm not sure if there's anything that's going to catch me out while i'm doing the job.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Dave_Gilbert

Timing chain side of things are the same.

the difference between them is the rocker cover and powersteering(pump on the cam on a vectra b i believe)

But everything else should be the same except access might be abit different on the zafira, isnt the engine like under the dashboard in them?

Andyvec

Yes you're correct. my vectra is run off the cam. this zafira is electric. it's a little tighter than on my vec but not too bad.

anyway, i have more troubles now. i got the covers off tonight to find the chains intact and the engine is timed correctly! the chains were a bit baggy in my opinion, the balance chain seemed loose and the tensioner moved with no resistance with my finger (can't remember if that's right or not but it seemed slack to me) but otherwise all looks ok.

i took the timing chain tensioner out the back to find it jammed solid. after a bit of a fiddle i managed to reset it to what i believe is how you would fit a new tensioner after activating it and for now i've refitted it to the engine as i'm thinking the reason the car broke down isn't down to the chains.

i've put enough of the engine back together to get it running but it wouldn't start, so now i'm searching for another fault.

its a 2003 thats done approx 120k and i don't believe the chains have ever been done so it does need the chains doing but i've got to find out why it won't run first.

Apparently the car was pulling out of a junction and just stopped and hasn't run since.

has any problems come up like this before that i should look at?

IDI_AMIN

Stretched chain it sounds like to me. I have had this problem with car not starting because of this, swapped with another 2nd hand chain and car started with everything set up exactly the same as before
Plus you say yourself baggy etc, all the clues are there in my opinion

Andyvec

i did wonder if i may have been answering my own question but i couldn't be sure if the chain would actually stop it from running as it looks to be timed and before it broke down it wasn't showing any signs of chain issues and wasn't noisey or rattling but when the engine is spun by hand you keep getting a bit of slack chain between the cam sprockets.

IDI_AMIN

Andyvec said:
when the engine is spun by hand you keep getting a bit of slack chain between the cam sprockets.

Exactly what i had a few years back, Even though it was my first ever attempt with a timing chain, I could almost sense that the chain dipping between the sprockets on rotation was not right

Does it look anything like this

I also was putting an old chain back on that i never knew any history about

Andyvec

yes that's exactly what its doing. can't remember if its still the same after i re set the tensioner but i'll check tomorrow before looking at anything else.

i've been saying for ages that the chains needed doing on this but they were sticking with an 'if it aint broke don't fix it' kind of attitude. but now its broke lol

Andyvec

Anyone had one of these things i've circled on the coil pack go wrong? i decided to check everything over this evening before starting to strip the chains off and i discovered there was no spark at the plugs. i happened to have a spare coil pack, bolted it on the engine, plugged in, turned the key and it fired up!

IDI_AMIN

Well that's wonderful but you must know you still need new chains (ideally)

Andyvec

It's not going anywhere till its got new chains. i'm ordering them now and i'll probably do them after the bank holiday before it goes home. i probably should have checked this already but i kinda assumed that the breakdown guy would have checked for a spark already. must've seen it was a 2.2 and automatically assumed it was the chain.

i'm interested to know if those things on the coil pack fail often or is this a weird 1 off?

IDI_AMIN

Yes coil packs fail, many of us including me have had the problem before it must be some kind of electronic converter or whatever inside the bit you circled that goes
At least you solved another problem. Depending on your funds i would get a new water pump also they all go in the same area
You don't want what happened to me happening to you